Craig Breslow, primary setup reliever

BOSTON -- If all had gone according to plan, Andrew Miller would have inherited runners on second and third with no outs in the eighth inning. If not the hard-throwing Miller, it might have been Andrew Bailey, a former All-Star closer who came into t

BOSTON -- If all had gone according to plan, Andrew Miller would have inherited runners on second and third with no outs in the eighth inning. If not the hard-throwing Miller, it might have been Andrew Bailey, a former All-Star closer who came into the second as Boston's primary setup reliever in front of closer Joel Hanrahan.

But Miller is injured, out for the season with a torn ligament in his left foot that still has him in a walking foot. Bailey is injured, too, and doesn't expect to be back until midway through next season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Even Hanrahan is injured, lost for the season with a torn flexor tendon. Those three injuries combined to thrust middle reliever Koji Uehara into the closer role -- and to throw the result of the bullpen into flux.

With so much of the bullpen depleted, it has fallen to Craig Breslow to snuff out the rallies in the seventh and eighth innings this season that Bailey, Miller or Uehara normally would have snuffed out. Breslow has emerged as the primary setup reliever in front of Uehara -- and, quietly, he's been as effective as anyone could have hoped he'd be.

Breslow has a 0.75 ERA in 24 innings pitched since the All-Star break, and he's stranded 16 of the 23 runners he's inherited. He came on with runners at second and third and no outs on Tuesday night -- "I put him in a bad spot," Boston manager John Farrell said -- and retired Chris Davis, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis without allowing a run to score.

"In hindsight, he probably should have started the eighth rather than put him in a situation where he's coming in with a couple of men on," Farrell said.

"In that situation, you're hoping to limit the damage," Miller said. "The way he did it, it was incredible."

Breslow threw a 1-0 sinker just below the knees to Davis, and Davis slapped it to a drawn-in Stephen Drew at shortstop. The runner at third held. Breslow then threw a 1-0 slider down and in to Jones, and Jones hit an identical ground ball to Drew. The runner at third held again.

"Over the years, he's developed a sinker," said Bailey, who has pitched with Breslow for the last five seasons both in Oakland and in Boston. "When we first started playing together, he didn't really throwing it. Now he's been throwing it -- to lefties, especially -- and he's been able to blow up some bats and get some ground balls."

Now with two outs and the infield back, Breslow threw a sinker middle-in to Markakis that yielded a soft fly ball to left field. He'd thrown six pitches, and the inning was over.

Breslow has never been a strikeout pitcher. He's never struck out more than 71 batters in a season. But what he lacks in firepower he makes up for in his ability to generate ground balls and soft contact.

"He's pitches in really well," Miller said. "A lot of lefties stay away and throw four-seamers, and he pitches in and off the plate really well against these lefties. That opens it up. He has a good mix of pitches. He may not throw 95, but what he brings to the table every night is pretty darn good."

And what Breslow is doing for the Red Sox this season isn't out of line with his career norms. In the last six seasons, he has a 2.85 ERA in almost 400 appearances out of the bullpen.

"I'm sure he gets tired of hearing it, but he's so steady and so consistently good every night out," Miller said. "For whatever reason -- maybe it's his size, maybe it's because he doesn't light up the radar gun -- he gets overlooked. But if you look at his career numbers, having played with him now for a year or so, he's really good at what he does."

"He's done it year in and year out," Bailey said. "He's been doing it for a very long time under the radar. He's a smart guy, and he really knows how to pitch. Hopefully he's found a home here."